Street or station indicator for vehicles.



A E. R. BRAMPTON. STREET 0R STATION INDICATOR FOR VEHiCLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5. i915. I

Patented July 11, 1916.

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v v -EH CBHIV\PTON 3M ERCRRMPTON Patented July 11, 1916.

a SHEETS-SHEET 2 E R. CRAMPTON. STREET OR STATION INDICATOR FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION HLED JUNE 5. 1915.

I. H "U l FIEII IIIIIILIFIH @[flK-KFI E. R. BRAMPTON.

STREET OR STATION INDICATOR FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5.1915.

Patented July 1-1;, 1916. v

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ERCBHMPTON EUGENE R. CRAMPTON, 0F PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA.

STREET 01E! STATION INDICATOR FOB, VEHICLES.

man acal.

To all whom it may concern: V

Be it known that T, EUGENE R. CRAMr'roN, a citizenof the United States, residing at Petaluma, in the county of Sonoma and Specification oi Letters Patent.

State of California, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Street or Station Indicators for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference be ing had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to devices for indicating-the arrival of a public vehicle at a predetermined point, as for instance, a street or a station, and particularly to that class of these devices in which a belt or band is used having thereon the names of the stations or streets with means for intermittently shifting the band at predetermined points so that the name of the street or station will be displayed upon the indicator.

The primary object of my invention is the provision of. a very simply constructed,

easily operated, and efiective indicator of this character, which is particularly adapted to be'operated by air pressure used for operating car doors and car brakes.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an indicator of this character wherein the travel of the band may be readily reversed so as to cause the display of successive station or street names in reverse order.

A furtherobject of my invention is to provide means whereby the roll supporting any particular bandhaving thereon station or street names may be readily changed so that the indicator may be used on difl'erent routes.

A further object of the invention is the provision of means for operating an indicator including an air cylinder and a piston, with means for automatically allowing the outlet of airfrom the cylinder after the piston has been forced a predetermined distance by the pressure of air therein, this means being adjustable so that the belt will not move beyond a predetermined point for each actuation of the piston.

Other objects will appear in the course 0 the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my station indicator and showing means for admitting air to the cylinder thereof; Fig. 2 is a front view of the station indicator itself, the front wall of the casing being removed Patented July ii, rate;-

Applieation filed June 5, 1915. Serial No. 32,387.

and the parts being broken away; Fig. 3 is avertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a section on the line H of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section through the ratchet wheel and the sliding clutch members; Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the application of my device to a street car in which the doors are operated by compressed air.

Referring tothese figures, 2 designates a casmg within which my indicating mechanism is mounted. This casing is preferably made of light sheet-metal or light cast metal, and the front of the casin is formed with an opening 3 for the disp ay of the street or station names, and the front 4: of the casing is hinged to the body of the casing, as at 5, so that access may be had to the interior of the casing for changing the rolls upon which the display bands are mounted.

The casing is primarily separated into two compartments by means of a vertical partition 6. The space between this partition 6 and one side wall of the casing is adapted. to contain the roll operating mechanism, while the space between said partition 6 and the other side wall of the casing is adapted to contain the rolls upon which the belt is mounted and the belt itself upon which the names of the stations are displayed.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, each roll 7 at opposite ends is formed with the disks 8 for confining the band in place upon the roll, and at one end is formed with the circular recess 9 and at the other end with the many-sided recess 10 which is shown as square in form, this recess constituting a socket whereby the roll may be engaged with the operating shaft. The band 11 is made of flexible material of any suitable character, or might bemade of a series of slats operatively connected to each other, and one end of the band is connected to the .upper roll 7 while the lower end of the Q as circular recess 9 in-the end of thegcorre 7 tween the inner face of the end wall' 4 and r this head andacts to urge these supporting members 12 and 13 inward.

*ber 17 which may havethe'form ofF-a ver- 1 tically extending wall, and'rotatably mounted within this supporting member 17 and:

' the artition 6' is the driving shaft 18. This I sha tprojects through the. partition 6 and 19 which is square or many-sided to engage ber 17 is a shaft 20 which at its inner end is.

able in the recess 10 of the lower roll -7 Through these shafts power is applied to the upper and lower rolls to wind up the band 11 in one direction or the other.

, For the purpose of applying power to the rolls 7, I provide the air cylinder 22 into the lower end of which enters the pipe 23;

' leading from a source of air supply and controlled by a valve, as will be later stated. The cylinder 22 may be constructed 'in any suitable manner, but as illustrated, is provided with detachable heads. Disposed" within the cylinder ;is a. piston 24' having a piston rod 25 which extends out through the upper end of the eylinder and which carries upon it "the pivoted pawl 26. This pawl normally depends in the position shown in Fig. 3', and -is'urged into this position by with a ratchet wheel 28 which is loosely mounted upon the shaft 18. Reverse mo- Ytion of this ratchet wheel is prevented byv means of; a pawl 29 urged into engagement.

withthe teeth of the ratchet wheel by means of the spring 30. The ratchet wheel is held from longitudinal movement with relation to the shaft 18 by means of oppositely disposed collars-31 mounted upon the shaft but not engaging the ratchet wheel. The ratchet wheel, as illustrated, is provided with a series of perforations 32 which are concentric to the axis of the ratchet wheel and are exterior to the collars 31.

Slidably mounted u'po nfthe shaft 18 are the oppositely disposed clutch members 33 I and 34 which are connected by means of a plurality of transversely extending rods which pass throughthe perforations 32. It will thus be seen that. the clutch members 33 and 34 may shift longitudinally relative to the ratchet wheel, but are held in rotative engagement withflthe ratchet wheel. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 18 is a gear 65 wheel 36, formed with a clutch element 37 relation thereto is a clutchelement 38 which confronts;the clutch element 37. The dis- Extending vertically hrough the space-. bounded by the partition6 and the adjacent end wall-of the casing is a supportingmom- 34. It will nowbe obvious that when the clutch elements 33 and 34 are longitudinally is formed atxits in'nerend with thehead formed with a many-sided head 21 engage means 'of a spring 27; The pawl engages ed upon the shaft18 to rotate therewith and fixed from any longitudinal movement with 38 is greater than the distance between the outside faces of the clutch elements 33 and shifted in one direction, the clutch element 33 will engage with the clutch element 37 butrthe clutch element 34 will be disengaged from the clutch element 38, and that upon a reversemovement the clutch elements ,34

and-38 will he enga ed while theelements 33 and'37'will be disengaged. Of course, as shown in the drawings, thev clutch elements 34 and 38 have clutch teeth reversely inclined relative to the teeth on the clutch elements 33 and 37. This clutch formed by the members 33, 34 and 35 is shifted in one direction or the other by means of a shipper lever 39 pivotally mounted 'at its middle and 90. having at its outer end a rod 40 extending out from the'casing and having a' button at its end whereby the rod may be shifted to" shiftthe lever.

. Mounted in the supporting member 17 and partition 6, below the shaft 18is a counter shaft 41- which has upon it a gear wheel 42 which meshes with the gear wheel 36 on the shaft 18. Mounted upon the shaft 20 and rotating therewith are the sprocket wheels 43 and 44. Mounted upon the shaft 18 and rotating therewith is a sprocket .wheel 45 which coacts with the sprocket wheel 44 and is connected thereto by means of the chain 46, and mounted upon the counter shaft 41 is a sprocket wheel, 47 which coacts with the sprocket wheel 43 and is connected thereto by means of a chain 48. Both of the shafts 18 and 20' are forced inward into engagement'with the sockets 10 on the rolls 7 by means of springs 49 which surround theshafts 18 and 20, respectively, and bear at one 'end against members mounted upon these shafts. Thus in the case of the lower shaft 20, the spring 49 bears against a collar 50 while on the upper shaft the spring bears against the clutch element 38. The shafts 18 and 20' extend out through the inside wall of the casing and are provided with knobs or buttons 51 whereby the shafts may be retracted against the force of the springs 49 to disengage them from the socketsinthe ends ofthe rolls 7.

It will be plain now that when air is admitted to the lower end of the cylinder-22 the piston will rise and that the pawl26 carried upon the piston rod will engage with the ratchet wheel and rotate the ratchet wheel. Forthe purpose of permitting the piston 24 to have only such movement as 130 will rotate the ratchet wheel a degree sufli cient to bring a station name opposite the opening 3 of the casing, 1 provide means for relieving the pressure of air below the piston 24 after the piston has risen a predetermined amount. To this end I provide the lower end of the cylinder 22 with a relief port from which extends a relief pipe 52 and mount upon the side of the cylinder the valve box 53 Within Which operates the reciprocating valve 54. This valve 54 has the form of a longitudinally extending member provided with a port 55, which,-

when the member is raised, is adapted to aline with the. relief port, and whlch, when the member'is lowered, causes the closlng of the relief port. The upper end of this valve rod 54 is extended beyond the upper end of the cylinder and then extended upward and inward, as at 56, and formed with an inwardly projecting nose 57. Fixedly mounted upon the piston rod 25 is a collar 58 and also mounted upon the rod 25 above the collar 58'is a collar 59. This collar 59 has an arm 60 extending from it to which is connected the upper end of a coiled spring 61 in turn connected at its lower end to the upper end of the cylinder 22. It will now.

be obvious that upon an upward movement of the piston rod 25 the spring 61 will be expanded against its tension, and that when the piston rod 25 is moved upward a Suficient distance the element 58 will engage with the inwardly turned nose 57 on the rod 56 and the valve will be lifted so as to cause the port to register with the port 52. As soon as this has occurred the pressurewithin the cylinder below the piston will be relieved and the piston will not move up-- ward any farther. The spring 61' will then.

' cause thereturn of the piston to its initial position.

valve rod will move 'downwardclosing the port 52.

The operation of so much of my invention as I have described'will be obvious from what has gone before. When the'car is going in one direction the shipper lever 39 will be shifted to carry the clutch member 34 out of engagement with the clutch member 38 and carry the clutch member 33 into engagement with the member. 37. Under these circumstances a rotation of the ratchet wheel 28 will not cause a rotation of the shaft 18 directly, but will cause a rotation of the gear wheels 36 and 42 and thus power will be transmitted directly through-the chain 48 to the shaft 20, causing the rotation of this shaft in a direction to wind up the display band 11 upon the lower roll 7 while the shaft 18 runs free. When the end of the route is reached, the lever 39 is reversed so that the clutch 36 is moved out of engageparticular means for admitting air pressure In Fig. 1- I have shown an air tank 62 connected by means of a pipe 'line 63 to the I cylinder 22. Disposed withln this pipe line ment with the clutch member and the clutch element 34 moved into engagement runs idle.

While-I do'not wish to .be limited to any to the'under side of the piston 24, T have illustrated the pipe 23 as being connected to a tank containing compressed air or other fluid, and have illustrated a controlling valveunder the control of the motorman or conductor, this controlling Valvewhen oper ated permitting the passage of air to the cylinder 22. This controlling valve is intended 'to be operated by the motorman or conductor at each station or street crossing. It is obvious, however, that automatic means might be provided for this purpose, and that I need not be limited to the exact construction of controller for admittingair to the cylinder.

is a valve. 64. whose valve stem 65 extends upward in convenient position to the motoras man or conductor, and is provided with a handle 66 whereby it may be operated. When. this valve 64 is rotated in one direction the valve will be lifted to permit the passage of air to the cylinder 22. When the valve is rotated in the opposite direction the'passage of air is cut off. This is a very simple means for permitting the entrance of air to the cylinder 22 but it is not automatic in its action.

In .Fig. 6 I show, somewhat diagrammatically, a construction wherein the opening of the door of a trolley car through the action of compressed air will automatically operate the street indicator. In this figure, A' designates a trolley car-of any suitable construction, but assumed to be one of the pay as you enter cars. These doors are closed while the car is running and only opened at street crossings. The tank 67 is supplied with air in the jusualmanner from an air pump carried upon the car and is con- 'nected by a pipe line 68 to suitable means with the pipe 70 is provided with the op positely opening check valves 68", while the pipe 70 is also provided withthe upwardly opening check valve 69*. It will thus be obvious that when air is admitted to the door-operating mechanism from the air tank car to car and connected-1n turn to a valve 73 of metal disposed between these rolls 72 that air will also be admitted to the pipe 7 0 and thus to the cylinder 22 and thus the indicator will be operated automatically uponeach opening of the door. Where my indicating device is intended to be used with a train of cars it isv obvious that there will be a separate indicating device in each car and that the cylinders 22 of each indieating device will be connected to a common pipe line connected by couplings from controlled by the engineer, or to a valve con trolled by the conductor of the train. It

, will also-be obvious that the air used upon the air brake. system may be used for the purpose of operating the indicator.

In order to hold the indicating band in close contact withthe glass plate 3 which covers the opening 3, I provide at each end "of thespace occupied by the bands the supporting frames 71 carrying the oppositely disposed rollers or supports 72 which "are mounted adjacent to the opening in the,

front wall of the indicator casing and. over which the band passes. There is also a web and which extends transversely of the length of the compartment in which the rolls 7 are mounted and immediately behind the opening 3. a It will be seen from the drawings and from previous description that my invention is very simple, can be readily applied to cars now in use, can be either automatic or not, as may be desired, nd is adapted to use bands of any desired ength. Furthermore,

it will be seen that the rolls upon which these streetor station indicator bands are mounted may be readily interchangedfor various routes by simply opening the hinged wall of the casing and removing one set of rollers and disposing the other thereinr i ittention is called to the fact that with mechanism the operation of the indi- 46f cator is not dependent upon the length of time that, the operator admits air to the cylinder 22. Of course a certain amount of air must be admitted to the cylinder,but by my cylinder would be to hold the piston raised and as soon as the motorman had cut off the supply of air the cylinder would be automatically vented and the plunger would immediately descend. Furthermore, it will be seen that the sudden admission of air to the cylinder Will not adversely affect the operatlon of the mechanism for the reason that the upward movement of the piston and of the piston rod is resisted by the spring 61 which thus acts to cushion the upwardmovement of this rod to some extent. Furthermore, it will be seen that the collars 58 and 59 may be so adjusted on the piston rod 17 as to govern the throw of the rod and thus govern the amount of rotation given to the ratchet wheel. Thus it would be possible, by proper adjustment, to give a greater rotation to' the ratchet wheel in one instance than in another instance so that the band on each actuation would move' over two spaces so as to display alternate names. Thus ina car having two routes the band -might be adjusted on one route so that its stations would be indicated, and then when the car was placed upon the other route it would only be necessary to readjust the band.

While I have described my invention as particularly applicable to displaying station or street names, it will be obvious that it also might be used for advertising purposes. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the exact use of my device which I have illustrated.

Having described my invention, What I claim is:

1. In a station indicator for vehicles, parallel shafts operatively connected-to each other for common rotation, display band carrying rolls mounted upon said shafts, a display .band carried by the rolls, a rotatable element mounted upon one of said shafts, an intermediate shaft operatively connected to-the other of said shafts, a cylinder, a piston'therein, a piston rod, means for admitting air to the cylinder to thereby force the piston rod in one direction, means for operatively engaging the piston rod with the said rotatable member upon a movement of the rod in one direction, and means for operatively engaging said member either with the first-named shaft or with the intermediate shaft.

2. In a station indicator of the character described, a driving shaft and a .parallel driven shaft, sprocket wheels carried upon said shafts, a chain passing over the sprocket wheels for giving a common rotation to the shafts, a counter-shaft carrying .a sprocket wheel, a sprocket wheel on the driven shaft, a sprocket chain passing over the sprocket wheels and connecting the counter-shaft with the driven shaft for common movement, a gear wheel mounted upon the counter-shaft, a gear wheel loosely mounted upon the driving shaft and engaging with the first-named gear wheel, said second named gear wheel being provided with a clutch element, a clutch element mounted upon the driving shaft and opposed to the first-named clutch element, a slidable double clutch freely rotatable upon the driving shaft but shiftable into engageclutch.

ing with the first-named gear wheel and carrying a clutch element, a driving wheel loosely mounted upon the driving shaft but disconnected therefrom and provided with a plurality of perforations arranged concentric to the shaft, oppositely. disposed.

clutch elements mounted on each side of the driving wheel and slidably mounted-upon the driving shaftpsaid clutch elements being connected, by pins passing through the perforations of the driving wheel, one of said clutch elements adapted to engage with the clutch element on the said gear wheel,

I a clutch element mounted upon the drivin shaft and with which the other clutch element on the other shiftable clutch element is adapted to engage, means for rotating the driving shaft, and manually operable means for shifting the double clutch element into or out of engagement with either clutch.

4. In a station indicator of the character described, parallel winding shafts operatively connected to each other for movement in the same direction, a counter shaft operatively connected to one of said shafts for movement in the same direction, a gear Wheel carried by the counter shaft, a gear wheel loosely mounted upon the adjacent shaft and engaging the first named gear wheel, said second-named gear wheel being provided with a clutch element, a clutch element mounted upon the first-named shaft and opposed to the first-named clutch element, a double clutch freely rotatable upon the shaft but shiftable into engagement withv either one of the clutch elements, means for rbtating said double clutch element, and manually operable means for shifting the double clutch element into \or out of engagement with either clutch.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE R. CRAMPTON. 

